Monday, December 13, 2010

Genetics

Let me introduce you to a few more of the pack here, Lilo and Domino.Both are Canaan dog females, six and a half years old.They were born only a week apart.They are both really lovely girls with nice stable temperaments, fond of children, discriminating in knowing at what to bark and at what not, both have had successful show careers, and have had several litters with very successful puppies.I really love the two of them…except sometimes…

Canaans are very intelligent dogs and very well adapted to everything that promotes their survival.Nowadays, survival can also be considered the best way to get the most cookies, and they can also be very good at that.But they are dogs that use their energies for things they consider positive and beneficial, and don’t waste them on nonsense.

Lilo and Domino grew up together, as they were the same age, and both were intended to stay here.They got along really well, until one day when in an irrational sisterly way, they suddenly decided they hated one another.After a few experiences of having one or the other trying to sneak out the gate to demolish her sister, they were totally separated, and each has since lived in her own little queendom, where they can look at each other separated by several fences and yards.This does not, however, mean that they have given up.

Dogs are supposed to hate the taste of metal, and don’t like picking up metal objects – one of the reasons that one of the tests in high level obedience tests is to pick up a metal dumbbell.Lilo and Domino, however, are perfectly willing to grab hold of the edges of the metal panels used as part of the kennel fences – quite strong and thick ones, as they are basically used for roofing – and to pull them loose, chew them, and eventually rip off pieces, in the hope that they will manage to get to one another. The bottoms of all the panels in their vicinity have teeth marks and tears. This has also not been particularly kind to the condition of their teeth, but that doesn’t seem to bother them.This behavior has now seemed to have become something they enjoy doing, as they do it to fences which are not at all related to separating them.

They also have no problems with grabbing the fencing wire and trying to free it from the frame.Lilo, who used to live with my daughter, also developed a method of grabbing the fence towards the top, holding on with her teeth while she climbed up it, thus pushing it down with her own weight and letting her companion, my daugher’s American Akita, out to run free. She herself had no problems climbing up and over the fence, but her Akita companion was too big and heavy, so she had to invent a method of getting him out also.This was the end of Lilo’s stay with my daughter…

Domino likes to occupy herself with a wider variety of activities, one of which is eating her plastic dog house.These dog houses are supposed to be indestructible, according to the manufacturer.However, they present no problem to Domino, who has managed to eat a good portion of several of them. Nothing seems to deter her appetite for them, she prefers them over lovely meaty bones, and all of the various sprays and such that are supposed to prevent chewing apparently just spice them up a bit.

I have had a lot of dogs over the years, but these two are unique…

Lilo and Domino have the same father, a dog we brought home from the desert as a tiny puppy, who was a really tough and determined dog who without a doubt could have survived anything.The only strange thing he ever ate, though, was a tick collar, which he ate in its entirety except for the buckle and which necessitated a quick trip to the vet.

Never discount genetics – more things are inherited than you might think…